Speaker 1: Welcome to the Lookout weekly podcast.
Speaker 1: Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in His presence, growing in His family and living on His mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.
Speaker 1: Visit us online at thelookoutchurch.
Speaker 1: Hey, good morning everybody.
Speaker 1: Happy Resurrection Day, happy Easter.
Speaker 1: He is risen.
Speaker 1: Okay, that was weak, all right, let's try it again.
Speaker 1: He is risen, all right, come on.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's get it.
Speaker 1: It's a good day.
Speaker 1: We got a little cloud cover on the outside, but sunshine from the inside right, god is shining from the inside.
Speaker 1: So if we haven't met yet, my name is Luke and if you're new to the church, like Jeanette said, we're excited to have you with us.
Speaker 1: I know that there's friends and family here for some of the baptisms we have later on in the service.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a fantastic time, so I hope that you feel a part of the family here today.
Speaker 1: Obviously, the headline is very clear today that it is 2024 and 2,000 years later, jesus is still alive.
Speaker 1: Jesus is still alive and I hope that excites your hearts.
Speaker 1: Here today.
Speaker 1: We're not talking about honoring somebody who lived once a long time ago.
Speaker 1: We're not just honoring history.
Speaker 1: It's not just a history lesson we're doing here today.
Speaker 1: Can we get that straight and just kind of set the record right up front?
Speaker 1: It's 2024, and 2,000 years later, the resurrection power of Jesus hasn't been diminished, it hasn't been exhausted, it hasn't been depleted, it hasn't been mellowed out, it hasn't just been steadied out or, you know, taken a back seat.
Speaker 1: It's just as relevant today, the resurrection power, as it was 2,000 years ago, as it'll be 10,000 years ago that we need the resurrection power, and it is here today, in the name of Jesus, amen.
Speaker 1: And my expectation here is this man, this is Easter, all right, I expect to be preaching to living people, all right.
Speaker 1: So you better use your voice, you better.
Speaker 1: I'm from a Pentecostal background, charismatic, but you better shout back at me.
Speaker 1: All right, we're not doing that.
Speaker 1: I'm not preaching to skeletons, I'm preaching to people who've been raised to life in Jesus, amen.
Speaker 1: There is a sub-headline today, and that is today is also Megan and I's 18th wedding anniversary.
Speaker 1: Look at these two little lovebirds.
Speaker 1: I always have to point out the glory of my hair back in 2006.
Speaker 1: Still waiting for that resurrection to happen?
Speaker 1: All right, I'm still believing for it.
Speaker 1: You can pray for me.
Speaker 1: I believe it'll happen.
Speaker 1: So we're thankful, though, to spend today with you, with our family, and I'm thankful for my wife.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that's a miracle that she chose me all right, and I'm thankful for her.
Speaker 1: And so this morning, if you do have your Bibles, we're gonna open to Romans, chapter six.
Speaker 1: If you do not have your Bibles, it's okay, we're gonna have it on the screens here today so you can read along.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna jump into the scriptures, and I do wanna talk a little bit about what we're doing here today, what we're gonna do in just a few minutes.
Speaker 1: One of the beautiful things that we get to celebrate today is water baptism.
Speaker 1: There's no better time than Easter Sunday to celebrate the moving from death to life, and maybe you've never experienced that before, this idea of baptism.
Speaker 1: Maybe you come from a tradition where that's done as an infant or there's some sprinkling that happens, but I believe there's not a more powerful symbol of the resurrected life of Christ than what happens as we celebrate the sacrament of baptism together.
Speaker 1: And it was such a significant theme in scriptures that Paul here's how Paul writes about this to his letter to the Romans.
Speaker 1: The apostle Paul writes about this process and what baptism means.
Speaker 1: Here's what he says in Romans, chapter 6.
Speaker 1: We'll read it on the screen here together.
Speaker 1: Let's start in verse 3.
Speaker 1: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Speaker 1: We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just Next verse, be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Speaker 1: We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Speaker 1: For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Speaker 1: Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Speaker 1: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
Speaker 1: Death no longer has dominion over him.
Speaker 1: For the death he died, he died to sin once and for all.
Speaker 1: Everybody say once, but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Speaker 1: So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: Is anybody alive to God in Christ Jesus today?
Speaker 1: Come on, so would you pray with me, jesus, this morning, as we show up again to your resurrected life?
Speaker 1: I thank you that your word is implanted deep inside of us.
Speaker 1: We thank you, god, for a journey that we could not take on our own, that you did something for us that we could not do on our own.
Speaker 1: And so we thank you, god, that, even as we sing, as we worship, as we're here today, god, that we get to enter into the resurrection power that you purchased for us, that you did for us, and it's in Jesus' name we pray Amen.
Speaker 1: So baptism is what we're talking about, and baptism is one of those things.
Speaker 1: Just like a lot of things, it's kind of hard to understand from the outside looking in, because what you're about to see in a little bit is a bunch of wet people in a hot tub on the side of a church building, and it's really bizarre.
Speaker 1: Why are we doing this?
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of things, quite honestly, that we do in the church that might seem bizarre, and it's always kind of been like this.
Speaker 1: Now, kind of a funny story I heard about St Patrick.
Speaker 1: Many of you guys know St Patrick, well-revered in Protestant Catholic churches alike.
Speaker 1: We celebrated him just a couple weeks ago, but he was an evangelist in Ireland in the 5th century and he was said to have baptized about 120,000 people in Ireland in his lifetime.
Speaker 1: Now we celebrate him.
Speaker 1: He was so significant that we give a whole day.
Speaker 1: We celebrate him by wearing green, by eating corned beef and drinking Guinness all right, that's what we do and pinching each other right.
Speaker 1: But there's this kind of funny story of you know, not everybody knows exactly what goes into baptism.
Speaker 1: There was a king, king Ingus, in 450 AD.
Speaker 1: The king had asked Patrick to come and preach to him.
Speaker 1: He had heard about the miracles he was doing across the land and this message he was preaching and he asked Patrick to come preach to him.
Speaker 1: He ended up giving his life to God and his life to Jesus, this king, and so the next step was baptism and he was really excited about this.
Speaker 1: So he organized this huge kind of royal, this big ceremony, and at this ceremony Patrick was there and we see Patrick, you know, in a lot of photos.
Speaker 1: He's got that big staff it's called a crozier, I believe, and it's, you know, this big staff that he had with him really sharp tip at the bottom.
Speaker 1: And what happened was Patrick was preaching and he was at the baptism of King Angus.
Speaker 1: He was standing next to the king and he was preaching and he was so impassioned, he was so into what he was talking about that.
Speaker 1: He was holding a staff and just to make a point, he slammed his staff down on the ground and then the king yelped and it turns out that the sharp tip of this staff went straight into the king's foot.
Speaker 1: Okay, but Patrick had no idea.
Speaker 1: He was so into his message, his eyes were closed, he just kept going and he slammed into the king's foot and nobody said anything.
Speaker 1: So the king ends up getting baptized.
Speaker 1: He's limping around, he's bleeding.
Speaker 1: Finally Patrick realizes what happened and he asked the king for forgiveness.
Speaker 1: He said I'm so sorry, why didn't you say anything?
Speaker 1: And the king said I thought this was all part of the ritual.
Speaker 1: So, needless to say, nobody else wanted to get baptized that day and he had no idea.
Speaker 1: He thought it was all a part.
Speaker 1: So I say that story as kind of a funny way of saying like, when we come to the church, there's a lot of things that we do and sometimes we forget why we do what we do.
Speaker 1: And some of you are coming in this morning you're like wow, this is kind of a wild bunch.
Speaker 1: We're singing, we're yelling, there's dancers, there's flagging, there's a lot of interesting things happening.
Speaker 1: Listen, there's going to be a lot more when you get to heaven.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1: Okay, but there's a lot of deeper significance and meaning, especially when it comes to baptism.
Speaker 1: So I just want to talk about that just for a few minutes, before we honor and celebrate with the ones who are being baptized today, because the reality is, some of you have already been baptized in your life.
Speaker 1: Some of you are being baptized today, some of you have yet to be baptized, and maybe even today we have extra towels.
Speaker 1: Today could be your day, all right, but what is water, baptism?
Speaker 1: Baptism is an outward sign of an internal transformation.
Speaker 1: It's an outward sign of an internal transformation.
Speaker 1: It's something we do to represent something that has happened from the inside out.
Speaker 1: And why water?
Speaker 1: Why is water so significant?
Speaker 1: Because, throughout the scripture, water played a significant role in the story of God's people and a lot of different themes the Jewish people, the Israelites.
Speaker 1: That water played a significant theme of passing from one place to another in major transitions in history.
Speaker 1: Noah and his family were saved from the worldwide destruction through the waters of the flood.
Speaker 1: The Israelites, under Moses, gained their freedom from slavery through the waters of the Red Sea.
Speaker 1: John the Baptist called for repentance to be shown through baptism in water that it would be a cleansing, a washing from the inside out.
Speaker 1: And even Jesus was baptized, not because he needed his sins forgiven we know that wasn't true but to what, as the scripture says, to fulfill all righteousness.
Speaker 1: And it was a foreshadow of what he was going to be doing.
Speaker 1: He was foreshadowing this is what I've come to do to die and to be raised again.
Speaker 1: And this is what Jesus gave to us.
Speaker 1: And this was so important to Jesus that he included this in his final kind of farewell message to his disciples.
Speaker 1: And in Matthew 28, 18, it says this Matthew 28, it says and Jesus came and said to them All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Speaker 1: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Speaker 1: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Speaker 1: Is that good news to anybody here?
Speaker 1: It's good news that he is with you.
Speaker 1: He has not left you alone.
Speaker 1: He has sent his Holy Spirit to us to remind us of everything he did and everything he said, and so, even to Jesus, though, he said what I want you to do is people trust in my name as you make disciples, as you invite people to follow me.
Speaker 1: I want you to celebrate that through baptism, because when we follow Christ, we're saying that I'm surrendering my life.
Speaker 1: I'm surrendering what I was and all that.
Speaker 1: I am over to your way, jesus.
Speaker 1: I was the master of my life, but now I'm making you the master of my life, and as I go underwater, I'm leaving something behind and I'm entering into brand new life.
Speaker 1: Are you guys with me this morning?
Speaker 1: So a few things.
Speaker 1: I want to point out, though, when it comes to baptism.
Speaker 1: First of all, we are immersed in Christ.
Speaker 1: When we come, when we take a step forward in our baptism, we are actually immersed in Christ.
Speaker 1: That's what the Greek word when the scriptures are written, the word baptize is this word baptizo, which means to immerse, to cleanse, to overwhelm.
Speaker 1: That's why, when we baptize and this isn't I'm not saying it's wrong to do it any other way, it's just when we baptize we go fully in.
Speaker 1: We're all in okay, in fact, we're so in that when you get baptized, we're gonna hold you under for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Make sure it's all good and make sure it takes.
Speaker 1: I'm just joking, okay, by the way, I'm just joking, but we're immersed.
Speaker 1: We're immersed into the life of Christ, and sometimes, on Easter Sunday, it's difficult to celebrate the resurrection.
Speaker 1: When we look at the world, we wonder how could things be so dark?
Speaker 1: And what happens is the reality is, we are all immersed in something.
Speaker 1: We are all baptized in something.
Speaker 1: Okay, some of you are baptized in Fox News.
Speaker 1: Some of you are baptized in CNN.
Speaker 1: Some of you are baptized in a way of thinking that did not come from God, it came from somewhere else.
Speaker 1: Some of you are baptized in public opinion.
Speaker 1: You're baptized in the perception of your friends and your family.
Speaker 1: We can be baptized in a lot of things, and that's why Jesus says I invite you to be baptized, to be immersed, to be overwhelmed, not by the way of the world, but by my thoughts and my heart and my heartbeat for you, by the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: And so what happens, though, is we look at what's happening in the world, and we're very aware of all that is wrong or that is broken, and sometimes we say God, it's terrible, what's happening over in this part of the world.
Speaker 1: We need you to do something about that over there.
Speaker 1: I need you to take care of that thing over there, or the economy over here, or this person or this world leader.
Speaker 1: But when we look at the problems of the world, it's too easy to point out the problem out there and forget that the problem is first in here.
Speaker 1: It's not that the world, it's not just that the world needs to be baptized in Christ, it's that we first need to be baptized in Christ.
Speaker 1: The problem starts in here.
Speaker 1: For every single one of us, god needs to immerse us, he needs to immerse you and he needed to immerse me in his perfect love.
Speaker 1: Can I just be very clear?
Speaker 1: We are all sinners, we have all fallen short.
Speaker 1: There's a fracture that has happened deep in the core of our beings and Jesus' invitation is I want to bring you into a new way.
Speaker 1: So we don't just need God to save those out here, we need him to save us.
Speaker 1: And you say, well, that's you know, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But listen, I'm generally a good person, right, like I'm pretty nice.
Speaker 1: I'm a nice guy.
Speaker 1: I tip my servers.
Speaker 1: Well, right, I pray before meals.
Speaker 1: I show up to church you know, as often as I can, but oftentimes what happens is we look at our lives and we judge ourselves based on kind of a standard of what we consider to be passable, forgetting that, at a deep level, sin has actually affected our lives and sin has the penalty of death.
Speaker 1: And so here's how one artist depicted this in 1633, renaissance artist Rembrandt.
Speaker 1: He painted this painting that maybe you have seen before, the Raising of the Cross, and I want you to take a look at this if you can get a picture of this.
Speaker 1: Let's go back to the first slide.
Speaker 1: It's depicting Jesus being raised on the cross and there's a whole crowd around, there's a lot of people in this scene, but besides Jesus, who's the brightest photo, kind of brightest face in this?
Speaker 1: It's that man at the bottom.
Speaker 1: But I want you to look at something very interesting about this man.
Speaker 1: This man does not look very Jewish or very Roman.
Speaker 1: Okay, and we'll zoom in now to this face.
Speaker 1: This, my friends, is a tiny Dutch man whose name is Rembrandt.
Speaker 1: So in this painting of Rembrandt, when he's depicting the cross, he didn't depict the raising of the cross as somebody else's problem.
Speaker 1: This is what somebody else did to Christ.
Speaker 1: This is what he's saying.
Speaker 1: This is what somebody else did to Christ.
Speaker 1: This is what he's saying.
Speaker 1: This is what my own sin has done to Christ.
Speaker 1: I was the one who put Jesus on the cross and he painted himself into the picture because he got a glimpse that I can't put this out anywhere else besides myself.
Speaker 1: I'm the one who was a participant in this, and so if I put him there, then I need the saving work of Jesus for myself.
Speaker 1: But here's the good news.
Speaker 1: The good news is this While we were still sinners, dead in our sin, christ died for us.
Speaker 1: While we were still sinners, while we were at our worst and some of us are maybe at our worst right now.
Speaker 1: Maybe you feel like you're at your worst.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you, at the lowest of your lows is when God looked at you and said I love you and there's nothing that you can do that will separate you from my love.
Speaker 1: And he invited you to know his love.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: All of us in this room need that to become pretty clear, because here's the truth.
Speaker 1: God did not come to make bad people good.
Speaker 1: He came to make dead people alive.
Speaker 1: Okay, he did not come to just make some unkind people a little nicer to the world.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's not the revolutionary work of Jesus.
Speaker 1: He came to take people that have been affected and fractured in death and to make us alive in Christ.
Speaker 1: We were immersed in sin and death.
Speaker 1: So Jesus became human, he took our place.
Speaker 1: He immersed himself in death, overwhelmed by death, as an innocent and sinless man that his dying would break the grip of sin and death for once and for all.
Speaker 1: So that's why we don't just dip our toes in the waters of baptism.
Speaker 1: We get all in and say God, you went all in for me and I'm going in all in for you, come on.
Speaker 1: So we are immersed in Christ, but we're also buried with Christ.
Speaker 1: This is important.
Speaker 1: I know this isn't Good Friday, this is Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 1: Bear with me for a second.
Speaker 1: We are buried with Christ, and here's why this is important.
Speaker 1: We remind ourselves, because many think that following Jesus is just by adding Christianity to their existing life.
Speaker 1: I'm going to add a little Jesus to my existing life.
Speaker 1: There's a lot in our culture that it's kind of popular to be spiritual.
Speaker 1: I want to be.
Speaker 1: I want enough spirituality in my life to kind of you know, yeah, I want to be a spiritual person, right, and so I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: You know my day's going to start.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a little yoga in the morning, I'm going to take a break for lunch, I'm going to do my kale salad and kombucha, and then I'm going to do my meditations, and then I'm going to pray to Jesus, and then I will officially be an enlightened spiritual person.
Speaker 1: This is like.
Speaker 1: This is the way a lot of people think about Jesus.
Speaker 1: Is I like Jesus, so I'm going to take a little bit of you, jesus.
Speaker 1: I'm going to add you to my current life.
Speaker 1: Here's the one problem with that, though, is that's not at all what Jesus even offered.
Speaker 1: He didn't offer to come into your life.
Speaker 1: He didn't offer to be added to your life.
Speaker 1: He said if anybody would follow me, he must take up his cross and follow me into death so that you can follow him into life.
Speaker 1: Here's what happens when we try to add Jesus to our life without also seeing that there's things that he takes away from us.
Speaker 1: We miss out on part of the good news.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what that looks like.
Speaker 1: Some of us spend so much of our time, even if you believe in Jesus.
Speaker 1: Some of us spend so much of our time trying to make up for past mistakes, faults, sins and shortcomings, and even in the room, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: You're aware of your own past.
Speaker 1: You're aware of where you've fallen short.
Speaker 1: I know I am.
Speaker 1: I'm aware of where I've fallen short and often still do.
Speaker 1: I'm aware of where I mess up.
Speaker 1: Some of us believe that what we're supposed to be doing is just trying to get rid of the bad things and try to do more good things.
Speaker 1: And so what happens is we try to follow Jesus, but in doing so we're trying to prove to God that we're worth it, for just by behaving better, we're trying to prove to ourselves and those around us that we can do it better this time.
Speaker 1: And so we're trying to add good things to our life to outweigh all the bad things.
Speaker 1: But the problem with that is that it's never enough.
Speaker 1: It's never enough.
Speaker 1: You cannot just add, you cannot give enough money away, you cannot serve the poor enough, you cannot do enough good things to outweigh the feeling of guilt and shame and just that feeling of not being enough, which is why Jesus offers something completely better.
Speaker 1: He offers something much better.
Speaker 1: God isn't trying to manage your past.
Speaker 1: He wants to forgive your past, and that's what he's done in the cross.
Speaker 1: He's not just trying to make you better.
Speaker 1: He's trying to eliminate and give you a clean slate that he no longer sees you based on how you used to be.
Speaker 1: He sees you based on who he made you to be and what he purchased in his own death and his own resurrection for your sake.
Speaker 1: You are no longer who you used to be, so you don't have to waste any more time and exhaust your energy trying to manage a perception before God.
Speaker 1: When you come into Christ, he sees you exactly like he sees his son, christ.
Speaker 1: This is the gospel.
Speaker 1: This is the good news.
Speaker 1: I talked to somebody yesterday that they said man, I don't know if I've done enough to be baptized.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm a new Christian.
Speaker 1: It all feels new to me and I don't feel like I've done enough.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I've earned it.
Speaker 1: Yet I said you haven't, isn't that awesome?
Speaker 1: You haven't done enough, you're not worth it, but God has made you worth it.
Speaker 1: God has said that you are worth it.
Speaker 1: None of us can do enough to earn it.
Speaker 1: That's the scandal of the gospel, is that it's not about how much you can measure up.
Speaker 1: It's about how much he has already measured up on your behalf, because it'll never be enough.
Speaker 1: But that's why Jesus is worth following, because he is enough.
Speaker 1: The Israelites passed through the Red Sea, and when they passed through the Red Sea, out of the slavery of Egypt, they passed into their new life.
Speaker 1: But what was buried in that Red Sea was their old master, their old oppressor.
Speaker 1: And that's what happens to us when we come into the waters of baptism.
Speaker 1: We're not just taking everything with us, we're leaving behind all that does not belong.
Speaker 1: So when we go into the water, what we leave behind is our fear and our guilt and our shame and our worry.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because he purchased those things that they don't even belong to you anymore.
Speaker 1: They're not yours to carry.
Speaker 1: You leave them behind in the water because you are now a child of God.
Speaker 1: You are not defined by your mistakes.
Speaker 1: You're not defined by your failures.
Speaker 1: You're not defined by your addictions.
Speaker 1: You are defined by Jesus.
Speaker 1: Now, that's good news.
Speaker 1: Right there, all right.
Speaker 1: So we're immersed into Christ, we are buried with Christ.
Speaker 1: But third point we're raised to life in Christ.
Speaker 1: That's why you're here this morning.
Speaker 1: We're raised to life in Christ.
Speaker 1: Here's how Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5.
Speaker 1: He says For the love of Christ controlled us, because we have concluded this that one has died for all.
Speaker 1: Therefore, all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who, for their sake, died and was raised.
Speaker 1: From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Speaker 1: Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Speaker 1: The old has passed away.
Speaker 1: Behold, the new has come.
Speaker 1: The old has passed away.
Speaker 1: The new has come.
Speaker 1: It's not just that you were immersed head to toe in Christ.
Speaker 1: The old has passed away, the new has come.
Speaker 1: It's not just that you were immersed head to toe in Christ, it's not just that you were buried, but you have.
Speaker 1: As you come out of the water, as we come out of the water, as we come up in Christ, we're coming up into the fullness of life in Christ, which means that God sets his name on you, says you're baptized into the name of the Father, into the name of the Father, into the name of the Son, into the name of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: He has done such a work that he's willing to put his name on it.
Speaker 1: Some of you at work you know what it means to put your name on something.
Speaker 1: You only put your name on something that you're proud of, something that cuts through, the one that actually raises to a standard worthy of putting your name.
Speaker 1: God has put his name on those who call on his name, and he baptizes us into the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, and he gives us his spirit and the power of God, and what happens is he begins to change our desires.
Speaker 1: He changes our motivations, he changes our identity from the inside out, so that sin is no longer our home, but Christ is now our home.
Speaker 1: Christ overwhelms us from every side, and now, though, sometimes we mess up, though sometimes we sin and we do sin is no longer my nature.
Speaker 1: Jesus is my nature, and his righteousness is now my nature.
Speaker 1: So when I stray, I need not have to go crucify myself, because he's been crucified for me.
Speaker 1: All I have to do is return home to what he's already done.
Speaker 1: So we are no longer in sin, we are now in Christ.
Speaker 1: This is the good news.
Speaker 1: This means that following Jesus is not just an upgrade to your life.
Speaker 1: It's not just you 2.0.
Speaker 1: It's not just a better version of you living your best life all right.
Speaker 1: This is about entering into the life of Christ, and so there's a transformation that happens.
Speaker 1: No longer are you a slave, but now you are a son and a daughter.
Speaker 1: No longer are you guilty, but you are free.
Speaker 1: Your record is free.
Speaker 1: No longer are you in debt, but your bill has been paid.
Speaker 1: No longer are you stained, but you are clean.
Speaker 1: No longer are you alone, but you're a part of the family of God.
Speaker 1: You're part of the work of God, you're part of his story.
Speaker 1: No longer are you just tolerated for who you are, but you are loved.
Speaker 1: You are beloved from the inside out.
Speaker 1: That's why, when we look at each other, we look at each other according to how Christ sees us.
Speaker 1: When we look at each other in the eyes and I hope you do this today we see each other based not just on how we look.
Speaker 1: I hope you don't look at me based on just how I look.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't look at me very well based on just how I look, but if you look at me according to how Christ sees me, then you can see love.
Speaker 1: You can see love in my eyes.
Speaker 1: You can see, I can see love in your eyes.
Speaker 1: It transforms everything about us.
Speaker 1: And what does all that mean?
Speaker 1: That means, when we're raised to life with God, we don't have to live in fear.
Speaker 1: Death is no longer the worst thing that will happen to you, because, while our outer bodies waste away, our inner life is being renewed day by day and we have a life with God that is eternal.
Speaker 1: Some of you came in today and you feel the grip of fear in your life.
Speaker 1: You're afraid of what's happening in the world.
Speaker 1: You're afraid of, maybe, what's happening in your body or a diagnosis or report.
Speaker 1: You're afraid of losing your spouse or your kids.
Speaker 1: You're afraid of what could be lost, and I just want to remind you today that fear is a terrible master.
Speaker 1: Fear will consume you, fear will enslave you, fear will take you down to the grave, but you have not been given a spirit of fear.
Speaker 1: You have been given the spirit of Christ, which means that you can entrust your whole life to him, every detail of your life, and knowing that, even when you don't know what's happening, he is with you and he is still good, and his resurrection power is still good today.
Speaker 1: So this morning I wanna invite our friends who are being baptized to come up and just kind of get in a lineup here.
Speaker 1: And the way we're gonna do it this morning is each one are gonna come up and just kind of get in a line up here, and the way we're going to do it this morning is each one are going to come up and we're going to ask them just a couple questions and then they're going to go down in the waters of baptism and we're going to have a camera so you'll be able to see them from your seat on the screens.
Speaker 1: But, guys, part of what we're doing is when you come into the waters of baptism and you come out, what it symbolizes is you're no longer alone in your journey.
Speaker 1: You come into the family of God.
Speaker 1: And these guys are.
Speaker 1: All of them have different stories.
Speaker 1: Some of them, maybe, were baptized as children and they feel like they're in a new season of life in Jesus.
Speaker 1: They want to be baptized again.
Speaker 1: Others are children and they're putting their faith in Jesus for the first time.
Speaker 1: Others are new believers and they've been a part of the church just for a little bit, and this is their step.
Speaker 1: They're taking a step of obedience.
Speaker 1: And so, as they get baptized, our part is to celebrate with them, is to welcome them in.
Speaker 1: So we're going to do some baptisms and I'm going to do one more invitation, we're going to sing together at the end and then we'll be done.
Speaker 1: So just hang on just for a little bit longer.
Speaker 1: This is going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: So, that being said, jeanette, do we have Jeanette around here?
Speaker 1: Here we go.
Speaker 4: Yes, sorry, I forgot to grab the mic, oh, okay.
Speaker 1: Had to get the mic.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, had to get the mic.
Speaker 4: Okay, first up is going to be Everest, hargadai Come on.
Speaker 1: Everest Woo-hoo.
Speaker 4: Okay, so Everest is Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior.
Speaker 4: Yes, and are you ready to be baptized in front of all of these people to declare what Jesus has done for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, alright, all right.
Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome, yay, yay.
Speaker 4: Okay, next up we have McKinley Hargadine.
Speaker 1: McKinley, come on.
Speaker 4: McKinley, do you love Jesus?
Speaker 4: Yes, and do you know that he died for you on the cross?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and are you wanting to be baptized today to show everyone here what God has done for you?
Speaker 4: Yes, okay, okay, come on, come on, great, okay.
Speaker 4: This is Matthew.
Speaker 1: Matthew.
Speaker 4: Matthew, tell us why you want to be baptized today.
Speaker 7: I'm just ready to live my life in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 7: I'm celebrating new life in so many ways.
Speaker 7: We just welcomed our daughter this week.
Speaker 7: Our daughter, liv, was born on Tuesday this last week.
Speaker 7: Awesome, we're celebrating the new life of her and, you know, my new life with Jesus.
Speaker 4: That's awesome.
Speaker 4: All right, let's celebrate.
Speaker 8: There you go, thank you.
Speaker 4: Okay, next up we have Nancy Yay.
Speaker 5: Nancy, why do you want to be baptized?
Speaker 4: I had a dream one night, and my dream that Jesus, it's an emotional thing, right, it's okay, you can show emotion.
Speaker 5: I dreamed that Jesus walked into my room, my bedroom.
Speaker 5: My husband was out of town and I sat up abruptly and reached out and I said his name because I knew who he was.
Speaker 5: And he said don't be afraid and I it as don't be afraid of taking this step.
Speaker 5: And it was so real and so momentous.
Speaker 5: I couldn't forget it and I want to get baptized again.
Speaker 4: That's awesome.
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ is your Savior and you're wanting to declare that in front of all of these people today?
Speaker 4: Yes, I do, let's do it Woo.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Okay, we have David here that wants to be baptized today.
Speaker 4: David, tell us why you want to be baptized.
Speaker 8: Well, first of all, I want to recognize that I had a really good friend that introduced me to God and to Christ, and that day was one of the best days of my life when I made Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, and I'm so excited today to put the old man down and rise up in the Spirit of Christ.
Speaker 4: Amen, I have nothing to add to that one.
Speaker 4: Okay, let's do this.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: All right, this is Gunnar.
Speaker 4: Let's celebrate.
Speaker 4: Gunnar, gunnar, why do you want to be baptized today?
Speaker 1: I want to live for Christ.
Speaker 4: That's a very good reason.
Speaker 4: All right, and he's your Savior and you want to confess in front of everyone and declare to the heavens that what he's done for you.
Speaker 8: Yes ma'am.
Speaker 4: All right, let's do it.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be up.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 2: It's so good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: Okay, this is Haley.
Speaker 4: Let's give it up for Haley.
Speaker 4: Haley, why do you want to be baptized today?
Speaker 6: To take a step further into my faith and just become closer with the people around me.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 4: And Jesus Christ is your Lord?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you want to be baptized to declare what he's done for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, let's go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yay, yay, all right, this is Jesse.
Speaker 4: Everyone Woo, jesse, why do you want to be baptized today?
Speaker 3: Oh, you can hold it.
Speaker 3: Thank you, I'm a little shaky.
Speaker 3: Well, I was brought up in a tradition that teaches our baptism is spiritual and fully in Christ, so much so that the external act is not needed.
Speaker 3: So, standing on my belief that baptism was fully and totally accomplished in Christ, spiritually, I have never been water baptized myself.
Speaker 3: Over time, though, I've sensed a spirit of pride and isolation in this position, and I've become increasingly convicted about it, and today I want to proclaim my loyalty to Christ, not to some system of belief.
Speaker 3: I desire to show solidarity with Christ and this community in this public way.
Speaker 3: At this point, I honestly probably have more questions than answers.
Speaker 3: But it's not a knowledge thing For me, it's a heart thing.
Speaker 3: It's not a knowledge thing for me, it's a heart thing.
Speaker 3: And the word from the lord for me at this time is that it's not meant to be an act of theology, this is meant to be an act of faith.
Speaker 3: So jesus is lord and I want to be baptized into his name.
Speaker 4: Yeah, come on that'll preach let's go, let's go you.
Speaker 1: Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Let's give it up for everybody who's been baptized so far.
Speaker 1: We're proud of you, guys.
Speaker 1: We're proud of you for taking that step.
Speaker 1: And I just want to.
Speaker 1: We're going to leave an open invitation here.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here today.
Speaker 1: You've never been baptized before.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're in a new season of life with Jesus and you're like gosh, maybe today's my day.
Speaker 1: Listen, we have extra towels, I think.
Speaker 1: I think we have extra towels.
Speaker 1: So if you want to be baptized today, just come out.
Speaker 1: You can just come over to the stairs.
Speaker 1: You can be baptized anytime in the next several minutes.
Speaker 1: But listen, everybody across the room, hang with me just for a second Across the room.
Speaker 1: What these guys are doing is they're making a confession of faith.
Speaker 1: They've already decided in their heart that they're following Jesus.
Speaker 1: But I wanna give an opportunity for all of us here to do the same thing, and I wanna invite you this morning with me to just close your eyes across the room.
Speaker 1: And I just wanna put an invitation out here today.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here and you're walking with Jesus, and that's been the room.
Speaker 1: And I just want to put an invitation out here today.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here and and you're walking with Jesus, and that's been the case.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here and you're like gosh I don't really know where I'm at with God.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would say God is at the center of my life.
Speaker 1: I think I've maybe added him to my life, but I haven't given, haven't surrendered my life to Jesus yet.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're in a place and everything is pretty comfortable in your life, you have enough money in the bank, you have food on the table, but you just know that inside that there's something missing, and maybe it's missing because you haven't just, with your words, confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life and you haven't invited him in.
Speaker 1: So I just want to do something together.
Speaker 1: I want to invite everybody here to pray a prayer.
Speaker 1: If you're willing and you don't have to pray this, it's totally fine.
Speaker 1: You don't have to say anything I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But if you're willing and able, I want to invite you, even if you're a believer, in this place, to pray this prayer again and we can pray it together.
Speaker 1: And so, wherever you're at, wherever you're sitting, wherever you're standing across the room, close your eyes and would you repeat after me this morning.
Speaker 1: If you would like to pray this prayer, repeat after me.
Speaker 1: Jesus, I believe you are the son of God, that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to new life.
Speaker 1: I choose now to turn from my sins, my self-centeredness, and surrender my life to you.
Speaker 1: I choose you, I give life to you, I choose you, I give myself to you and I receive your love and forgiveness, and ask you to take your rightful place as my Savior and my Lord.
Speaker 1: Come, reign in my heart, fill me with your love and resurrection life, give me a new identity, restore me, jesus, live in me, love through me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, god.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name I pray Amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's give it up to Jesus in this place, here today.
Speaker 1: I want to invite you to stand with me here this morning Luke.
Speaker 4: sorry, we have one more this is Tammy, everyone Tammy.
Speaker 4: Tammy, why do you want to be baptized this morning to accept Jesus as my Savior?
Speaker 1: alright, let's do it then thank you God, thank you Jesus, come on.
Speaker 1: Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, let's stand together across the room, wherever you're sitting, let's stand up.
Speaker 1: We're going to sing and listen.
Speaker 1: If that was the first time you prayed that prayer, if you've never prayed that prayer before and it's the first time you prayed it, or you prayed it and you really meant it in a new way, I want you to come and talk to me.
Speaker 1: Talk with one of us up front, maybe even if you want to get baptized there's still time but come talk to us.
Speaker 1: We want to know you, but we're going to sing and we're going to receive communion together, so let's do this how high the?
Speaker 6: mountain I could not climb.
Speaker 6: In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night.
Speaker 6: Then, through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul.
Speaker 6: The work is finished.
Speaker 6: The end is written.
Speaker 6: Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Speaker 9: Who could imagine so great a mercy?
Speaker 9: What heart could fathom Such boundless grace?
Speaker 9: The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame.
Speaker 9: I am forgiven.
Speaker 9: The King of kings calls me his own Beautiful Savior.
Speaker 9: I'm yours forever, jesus Christ, my living hope.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me.
Speaker 9: You have broken every chain.
Speaker 9: There's salvation in your name, jesus Christ, my living hope.
Speaker 6: Then came the morning that sealed the promise.
Speaker 6: Your buried body began to breathe, began to breathe out of the silence, the roaring that sealed the promise.
Speaker 9: Your very body began to breathe Out of the silence.
Speaker 9: The roaring lion Declared the grave has no blame on me.
Speaker 9: Jesus, yours is the victory.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me.
Speaker 9: You have broken every chain.
Speaker 9: There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the one who set me free.
Speaker 9: Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me.
Speaker 9: You have broken every chain.
Speaker 9: There's salvation in your name, jesus Christ, my living hope, my living hope.
Speaker 9: Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Speaker 9: Oh God, you are my living hope.
Speaker 9: Yes, jesus, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 9: So we honor you.
Speaker 9: Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 9: There was a moment when the lines were not, when death had claimed its victory.
Speaker 9: The King of love had given up his life, the darkest day in history.
Speaker 9: There, on a cross, they made their sinners when every curse is blood atone, where every curse is blood atone, a final breath.
Speaker 9: And it was finished, but not the end we could have known, for the earth began to shake.
Speaker 2: And the veil was torn.
Speaker 9: But sacrifice was made as the heavens rose.
Speaker 9: Sing it out.
Speaker 9: Sing it out All hail King Jesus.
Speaker 9: All hail the Lord of heaven and earth.
Speaker 9: All hail King Jesus, jesus, all hail the Savior of the world.
Speaker 9: There was a moment when the sky lit up, a flash of light breaking through, and all was lost across eternity.
Speaker 9: The King of life was on the moon.
Speaker 9: But when a dark, cold, tomb, tomb when the Lord was laid, one miraculous breath Will forever change.
Speaker 9: Oh hail King Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, jesus.
Speaker 9: All hail king jesus.
Speaker 9: We sing your praise, we praise you, jesus, we honor you, king Jesus.
Speaker 9: Let every knee come bow before the King of Kings.
Speaker 9: Let every tongue confess that he is Lord.
Speaker 9: Lift up your shout.
Speaker 9: Let us join with all our heads and sing.
Speaker 9: Let every need, let every need Come bow before the King of kings.
Speaker 9: Let every tongue bless the King of lords.
Speaker 9: And now, to your shout, let us join with all our heavenly host.
Speaker 9: Lord, the Father can't be holy.
Speaker 9: Oh, you are holy.
Speaker 9: You are holy.
Speaker 9: Yes, you are holy.
Speaker 9: All hail King Jesus.
Speaker 9: All hail the Lord of heaven and earth.
Speaker 9: All hail King Jesus.
Speaker 9: Oh hail the Savior of the world.
Speaker 2: Thank you God, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: Thank you, God.
Speaker 1: Would you join me this morning?
Speaker 1: We're going to receive the elements together.
Speaker 1: We're going to receive the body and the blood of Jesus, and if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I invite you to participate together as a church family.
Speaker 1: It says this in the scriptures, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said this is my body, which is for you.
Speaker 1: Do this in remembrance of me.
Speaker 1: In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Speaker 1: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Speaker 1: So this morning, I invite you to receive the bread and the cup.
Speaker 1: This is, by the way, gluten-free, so you're not gonna die, You're gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: But we do this together to remind ourselves of what happened on that cross that he fully died so he could fully defeat death and fully rise again.
Speaker 1: So, Jesus, as we receive your body and your blood, we announce your kingship in our lives.
Speaker 1: We surrender to you.
Speaker 1: We say that you're good and we thank you, God.
Speaker 1: We thank you for doing for us what we could not do on our own.
Speaker 1: We receive your body and your blood with grateful hearts, Jesus, Amen.
Speaker 1: Let's receive the bread and we'll receive the cup together.
Speaker 1: We thank you, God, for what you've done here today.
Speaker 1: We thank you for our baptisms.
Speaker 1: We thank you for everybody who has given their heart to you today and as we leave this place, God, we go in the resurrection power of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We go knowing that you are still alive and you are inside of us.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, we pray amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, listen, if you're new with us, you're gonna see a connect with the sign in the back.
Speaker 1: We wanna meet you in the back.
Speaker 1: If you need prayer for anything, we're gonna have some ministry team members prayer team members up front with purple badges.
Speaker 1: You can receive prayer.
Speaker 1: If you have kids, you can go.
Speaker 1: Get them Go in the life of Jesus.